Understanding the natural laws and principles of nature are of great importance to man. The pendulum is a mechanism used since ancient times, being highly developed by the early mathematicians. Perhaps its most common uses have been in the relatively accurate keeping of time and in providing cadence for music. The simple pendulum consists of a string or rigid bar pivoted at one end and having a weight at the other. The weight is given an initial displacement from its rest position at bottom center and then allowed to swing. If friction and other losses are ignored, the pendulum will swing to and fro indefinitely with a periodic motion. A compound pendulum may consist of two or more simple pendulums acting and interacting in a more complex motion. A compound pendulum is capable of demonstrating simulated chaotic activity. For further information concerning the pendulum please see; Rott, N., A Multiple Pendulum for the Demonstration of Non-linear Coupling, J. Appl. Math. Phys. (ZAMP) 21, 570-582, 1970.
Relatively few demonstration devices exist for the investigation of pendulous motion. Yet pendulous motion is used widely in devices such as speed control instrumentation, inertial navigation instruments such as accelerometers, and a truly vast array of other applications. A variety of toys and "Executive Toys" are produced and found in the marketplace that are based upon the pendulum and its underlying principles. One such device uses magnets to alternately attract and repel a swinging pendulum. Another device creates stationary and moving graphic representations and images by coupling a drive mechanism using a pendulum. In still another device alternating motion is achieved through the transfer of energy between magnetically coupled pendulous elements.
Pendulous motion continues to be one of the most important basic mechanisms used in industry as well as one of the most interesting judging by the large number of curosity toys that use it. However, there has not been, until now, a demonstration apparatus that is at once, simple to use, relatively inexpensive to manufacture, and that demonstrates the physical principles of the pendulum in a way that is entertaining and educational to young and old, and the scientifically naive and sophisticated. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages.